Hand Sanitizer Station

ABSTRACT

A system and method for detecting, using a sensor, an initiation event; capturing, using a camera, an image of a user&#39;s face responsive to the initiation event; activating, responsive to facial recognition and a determination based on one of exposure data associated with the user and the absence thereof that the user has not exceed a safe use standard for ultraviolet light, an ultraviolet source; the ultraviolet source and an activation duration sufficient to sanitize a surface located within a compartment. In one embodiment, visually presenting, by a display, a plurality of graphic elements associated with a plurality of potential content for presentation to the user; and presenting user selected content to the user when the ultraviolet source is activated and responsive to determining a user&#39;s selection, wherein the user&#39;s selection is made touch-lessly.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional ApplicationNo. 62/032,050 entitled “Ultraviolet Hand Sanitizer with Advertising andPromotion Presentation” and filed Aug. 1, 2014, and U.S. ProvisionalApplication No. 62/033,144 entitled “Ultraviolet Hand Sanitizer withFacial Recognition” and filed Aug. 5, 2014, the contents of each ofwhich are hereby incorporated by references in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to the field of hand sanitizers. Moreparticularly, the present disclosure relates to hands-free selection ofcontent presented by a hand sanitizer station as well as limiting theuse of an ultraviolet (UV) hand sanitizer to prevent excessive exposureto a single user.

Hand sanitizer stations are used to sanitize the hands of an individual.Some hand sanitizers expose a user's hands to ultraviolet (UV) light inorder to sanitize the hands. However, present hand sanitizers fail toprovide a system or method for preventing a particular user from overexposing themselves to UV light, for example, by frequent, repeated usein a period of time. Hand sanitizer stations also fail to provideuser-selectable content for presentation to a user while the handsanitation occurs. Furthermore, hand sanitizer stations further fail toprovide a touchless system or method for a user to select theuser-selectable content for presentation to the user during handsanitation.

SUMMARY

According to one innovative aspect of the subject matter described inthis disclosure, a sensor configured to detect an initiation event; acamera configured to capture an image of a user's face responsive to theinitiation event, the camera communicatively coupled to the sensor; andan ultraviolet source configured to activate responsive to facialrecognition and a determination based on one of exposure data associatedwith the user and the absence thereof that the user has not exceed asafe use standard for ultraviolet light; the ultraviolet source and anactivation duration sufficient to sanitize a surface located within acompartment.

In general, another innovative aspect of the subject matter described inthis disclosure may be embodied in methods that include detecting, usinga sensor, an initiation event; capturing, using a camera, an image of auser's face responsive to the initiation event; and activating,responsive to facial recognition and a determination based on one ofexposure data associated with the user and the absence thereof that theuser has not exceed a safe use standard for ultraviolet light, anultraviolet source; the ultraviolet source and an activation durationsufficient to sanitize a surface located within a compartment.

Other aspects include corresponding methods, systems, apparatus, andcomputer program products. These and other implementations may eachoptionally include one or more of the following features. For instance,the operations further include: visually presenting, by a display, aplurality of graphic elements associated with a plurality of potentialcontent for presentation to the user; and presenting user selectedcontent to the user when the ultraviolet source is activated andresponsive to determining a user's selection, wherein the user'sselection is made touch-lessly. For instance, the operations furtherinclude: presenting supplemental information to the user after aconclusion of the content presented to the user when the ultravioletsource is activated. For instance, the operations further include:detecting, by one or more micro-sonars, the user's movement in proximityto the display touch-lessly and visually distinguishing a graphicelement associated with content based on the user's movements, thevisually distinguished graphic element determined to be selectedresponsive to detecting the initiation event. For instance, theoperations further include: cycling through the potential content forpresentation to the user while the ultraviolet source is activated andvisually distinguishing a different graphic element associated withpotential content for presentation to the user while the ultravioletsource is activated at an interval, the visually distinguished graphicelement determined to be selected responsive to detecting the initiationevent.

For instance, the features include: the content presented to the userhas a duration similar to the activation duration; the initiation eventincludes the presence of one or more of an object and a user's handlocated within the compartment; the user's selection is determinedresponsive to the sensor detecting the initiation event; the ultravioletsource is activated responsive to the user passing a screening andresponsive to the facial recognition and determination based on one ofthe exposure data associated with the user and the absence thereof thatthe user has not exceed the safe use standard for ultraviolet light andthe ultraviolet source remains inactive otherwise; the screening isbased on one or more of a user's height and whether the user's facialfeatures are determined to be similar to those of a child.

It should be understood that the above is not all-inclusive and manyadditional steps, features and advantages are contemplated and fallwithin the scope of the present disclosure. Moreover, it should beunderstood that the language used in the present disclosure has beenprincipally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and notto limit the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure is illustrated by way of example, and not by way oflimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereference numerals are used to refer to similar elements.

FIG. 1 is block diagram of a system for one or more of UV exposurelimitation for hand sanitation and touchless selection of content forpresentation on a hand sanitizer station according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2A is an illustration of an orthogonal view of an example handsanitizer station according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating an example schematic of a handsanitizer station according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example server according to oneembodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an example exposure limiter according toone embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example content selector according toone embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example method for enforcing a safe usestandard/exposure limit for a UV hand sanitizer based on facialrecognition according to one embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of another example method for enforcing a safe usestandard/exposure limit for a UV hand sanitizer based on facialrecognition according to another embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example method for touch-less user contentselection at a UV hand sanitizer station according to one embodiment.

FIG. 9 is block diagram of an example user interface for touch-less usercontent selection at a UV hand sanitizer station according to oneembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is block diagram of a system for one or more of UV exposurelimitation for hand sanitation and touchless selection of content forpresentation on a hand sanitizer station according to one embodiment.The illustrated system 100 includes hand sanitizing stations 106 a . . .106 n, and a server 122, which are communicatively coupled via a network102 for interaction with one another. For example, the hand sanitizingstations 106 a . . . 106 n may be respectively coupled to the network102 via signal lines 104 a . . . 104 n and may be accessed by users 112a . . . 112 n (also referred to individually and collectively as 112) asillustrated by lines 110 a . . . 110 n. The server 122 may be coupled tothe network 102 via signal line 120. The use of the nomenclature “a” and“n” in the reference numbers indicates that any number of those elementshaving that nomenclature may be included in the system 100.

The network 102 may include any number of networks and/or network types.For example, the network 102 may include, but is not limited to, one ormore local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs) (e.g., theInternet), virtual private networks (VPNs), mobile (cellular) networks,wireless wide area network (WWANs), Wi-Fi networks, WiMAX® networks,Bluetooth® communication networks, peer-to-peer networks, otherinterconnected data paths across which multiple devices may communicate,various combinations thereof, etc. Data transmitted by the network 102may include packetized data (e.g., Internet Protocol (IP) data packets)that is routed to designated computing devices coupled to the network102. In some implementations, the network 102 may include a combinationof wired and wireless (e.g., terrestrial or satellite-basedtransceivers) networking software and/or hardware that interconnects thecomputing devices of the system 100. For example, the network 102 mayinclude packet-switching devices that route the data packets to thevarious computing devices based on information included in a header ofthe data packets.

The data exchanged over the network 102 can be represented usingtechnologies and/or formats including the hypertext markup language(HTML), the extensible markup language (XML), JavaScript Object Notation(JSON), Comma Separated Values (CSV), etc. In addition, all or some oflinks can be encrypted using conventional encryption technologies, forexample, the secure sockets layer (SSL), Secure HTTP (HTTPS) and/orvirtual private networks (VPNs) or Internet Protocol security (IPsec).In another embodiment, the entities can use custom and/or dedicated datacommunications technologies instead of, or in addition to, the onesdescribed above. Depending upon the embodiment, the network 102 can alsoinclude links to other networks.

The hand sanitizer stations 106 a . . . 106 n (also referred toindividually and collectively as 106) are computing devices having UVsanitation, data processing and communication capabilities. While FIG. 1illustrates two hand sanitizing stations 106, the present specificationapplies to any system architecture having one or more hand sanitizingstations. The components of an embodiment of a hand sanitizer station106 are described below with reference to FIGS. 2A-B. In one embodiment,the hand sanitizer stations 106 a . . . 106 n may couple to andcommunicate with one another and the other entities of the system 100via the network 102 using a wireless and/or wired connection.

The server 122 may include one or more computing devices having dataprocessing, storing, and communication capabilities. For example, server122 may include one or more hardware servers, server arrays, storagedevices, systems, etc., and/or may be centralized ordistributed/cloud-based. In some implementations, server 122 may includeone or more virtual servers, which operate in a host server environmentand access the physical hardware of the host server including, forexample, a processor, memory, storage, network interfaces, etc., via anabstraction layer (e.g., a virtual machine manager).

In one embodiment, the server 122 includes a content server. Forexample, in one embodiment, the system 100 includes a server 122 that isa content server and the content server provides content for display onone or more hand sanitizing stations. Examples of content may includeone or more of user created content, news, advertisements, healthinformation, weather, sales, promotions, facts, songs, video or anyother information. For example, in one embodiment, the server 122 is acontent server and pushes content (e.g. advertisements) to a handsanitizer station 106. In one embodiment, the hand sanitizer's internalcomputing device contains a cache, so the content is only pushed onceand then stored on the device reducing the bandwidth required for thenetwork. It will be recognized that the preceding are merely examples ofproviding content and types of content and that other examples exist.

The server 122, as depicted, may include the exposure limiter 132 or aportion thereof according to one embodiment. For example, depending onthe embodiment, the exposure limiter 132 and its functionality may notbe performed entirely by the server 122 and a portion, or the entirety,of the exposure limiter 132 may be included in and/or performed by ahand sanitizer station 106.

The server 122, as depicted, may include the content selector 134 or aportion thereof according to one embodiment. For example, depending onthe embodiment, the content selector 134 and its functionality may notbe performed entirely by the server 122 and a portion, or the entirety,of the exposure limiter 134 may be included in and/or performed by ahand sanitizer station 106.

It should be understood that the system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1 isrepresentative of an example system for one or more of UV exposurelimitation for hand sanitation and touchless selection of content forpresentation on a hand sanitizer station according to one embodiment,and that a variety of different system environments and configurationsare contemplated and are within the scope of the present disclosure. Forinstance, various functionality may be moved from a server 122 to a handsanitizing station 106, or vice versa and some implementations mayinclude additional or fewer computing devices, services, and/ornetworks, and may implement various functionality client or server-side.Further, various entities of the system 100 may be integrated into to asingle computing device or system or additional computing devices orsystems, etc.

FIG. 2A is an illustration of an orthogonal view of an example handsanitizer station 106 according to one embodiment. In one embodiment,the hand sanitizer station 106 uses UV light to sanitize a user's handsor other objects. Illustrated in FIG. 2A is one embodiment of anultraviolet (UV) light hand sanitizer station 106. The components of aUV hand sanitizing station 106 are shown schematically in the blockdiagram of FIG. 2B discussed below. Preferably, the UV sanitizer station106 is located within a public area such as a retail store, shoppingarea, restaurant, medical facility, etc.

Referring to FIG. 2B, in one embodiment, the hand sanitizer station 106includes a stand or enclosure 202 that contains the various componentsof the hand sanitizer station 106. In the illustrated embodiment, theenclosure 200 contains a display 210 and a speaker 212 that are used topresent audio-visual material to the users of the hand sanitizer station106. In addition, the enclosure 200 includes one or more forward facingcameras 214 (e.g. a single camera, cameras in stereo, a plenopticcamera, etc.) that are able to capture images of users' faces that makeuse of the UV hand sanitizer station 106. In the illustrated embodiment,the enclosure 200 also includes an opening or compartment 220 thatreceives a user's hands or other items to be sanitized. In oneembodiment, while the user's hands are in the compartment 220, thedisplay 210 and/or speaker 214 will present content (e.g. anadvertisement that is preferably related to the products that areavailable for sale in the retail store or shopping area in which thehand sanitizer station 106 is located) to the user.

The compartment or opening 220 is connected to a UV source 222, a blower224, and one or more sensors 226. In one embodiment, the one or moresensors 226 include a sensor that detects the presence of hands oranother object within the opening 220 and transmits this information toa processor 230 over a local bus or other communication channel 232. Inone embodiment, the one or more sensors 226 includes a photodetector todetect one or more of when the UV source 222 turns on, how long the UVsource is on and the intensity of the output of the UV source 222.

The processor 230 may execute code, routines and software instructionsby performing various input/output, logical, and/or mathematicaloperations. The processor 202 may have various computing architecturesto process data signals including, for example, a complex instructionset computer (CISC) architecture, a reduced instruction set computer(RISC) architecture, and/or an architecture implementing a combinationof instruction sets. The processor 202 may be physical and/or virtual,and may include a single core or plurality of processing units and/orcores. In some implementations, the processor 230 may be coupled to thememory 240 via the bus 232 to access data and instructions therefrom andstore data therein. The bus 232 may couple the processor 230 to theother components of the hand sanitizing station 106, for example, thememory 240, communication unit 250, the speaker 212, the camera 214, thedisplay 210, the UV source 222, the blower, 224, and the one or moresensors 226. In some embodiments, the processor 230 may take the form ofa general purpose CPU manufactured by Intel Corporation (Mountain View,Calif.) or Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.), or pursuantto the specifications of ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England). In someembodiments the processor 230 may take the form of a special purposeprocessor (e.g. a application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or afield programmable gate array (FPGA)).

The memory 240 may store and provide access to data to the othercomponents of the hand sanitizing station 106. In some implementations,the memory 240 may store instructions and/or data that may be executedby the processor 230. For example, as depicted, the memory 240 may storethe exposure limiter 132 or a portion thereof and/or the contentselector 134 or a portion thereof. The memory 204 is also capable ofstoring other instructions and data, including, for example, anoperating system, hardware drivers, other software applications,databases, etc. The memory 240 may be coupled to the bus 206 forcommunication with the processor 230 and the other components of thehand sanitizing station 106.

The memory 240 includes a non-transitory computer-usable (e.g.,readable, writeable, etc.) medium, which can be any apparatus or devicethat can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transportinstructions, data, computer programs, software, code, routines, etc.,for processing by or in connection with the processor 230. In someimplementations, the memory 240 may include one or more of volatilememory and non-volatile memory. For example, the memory 240 may include,but is not limited, to one or more of a dynamic random access memory(DRAM) device, a static random access memory (SRAM) device, a discretememory device (e.g., a PROM, FPROM, ROM), a hard disk drive, an opticaldisk drive (CD, DVD, Blue-Ray™, etc.). It should be understood that thememory 240 may be a single device or may include multiple types ofdevices and configurations. In one embodiment, the memory 240 includesan operating system software 242, such as LINUX (available from multiplecompanies under open source licensing terms) or WINDOWS (available fromMicrosoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.), as well as specificprogramming that controls the various operations of the UV sanitizerstation 106 including the exposure limiter 132 and content selector 134according to one embodiment.

In one embodiment, the sanitization process begins when the processor230 turns on an ultraviolet (UV) light source 222 and a blower 224 for apredetermined amount of time. In one embodiment, the UV light source 222emits a short wavelength UV light (e.g. UV-C in the range of 220 nm to290 nm) that is designed to act as a surface germicide to kill orotherwise render harmless bacteria, viruses and other microorganismsfound on the surface of the object within compartment 220. In thepreferred embodiment, the UV light that falls on the object has beenreflected off a reflective surface, such as aluminum, which has beenshown to increase the germicidal effectiveness of UV light exposure. Theduration of the exposure required to act as an effective germicidevaries depending on the intensity of the light that falls on the object.While effective hand sanitization can be accomplished in only a fewseconds with an intense UV light source, care must be taken to avoidboth direct exposure to human eyes and prolonged exposure to skin. Inthe preferred embodiment, a less intense light intensity (such as 5 mWbulbs at a distance of 3 inches) is utilized which takes approximately 2seconds to be effective. This lower intensity light source provides asafer design for the UV sanitizer station 106, which is suitable forpublic use.

Nonetheless, even with this lower intensity light source, repeated useof the UV sanitizer station 100 may be considered unsafe. In particular,such repeated use may cause skin damage. To prevent such consequences,in one embodiment, the exposure limiter 132, which is discussed belowwith reference to FIG. 4, enforces a safe use standard using facialrecognition technology. In one embodiment, the exposure limiter 132ensures that a user does not receive more exposure than a predefineddefined exposure limit also referred to occasionally herein as a safeuse standard.

Since light from the UV light source 222 is not always visible to theuser during use, the blower 224 blows a stream of air onto the user'shand during this exposure. When the processor 230 turns off the lightsource 222 and the blower 224 at the end of the exposure time, the userwill detect that the blowing has stopped and will know that the UVexposure is also completed.

In one embodiment, the UV sanitizer station 106 provides content 244such as advertisements to the user during the UV exposure. This contentmay include typically A/V presentations that are stored in memory 240,and then presented by the processor 230 over the display 210 and speaker212. In one embodiment, the content is an advertisement that runs forapproximately the same duration as the UV germicidal exposure duration.In one embodiment, when the content 244 and the concurrent UV exposureare complete, the UV sanitizer station 106 preferably presentssupplemental content to the user such as a promotion relating to theadvertised product or service, such as a percentage off promotion, abuy-one-get-one-free promotion, or a cash discount promotion. In oneembodiment, the content 244 includes the details for each promotion andis stored in the memory 240 and the promotions are associated with thevarious advertisements which are also stored as content 244 in thememory 240.

In one embodiment, the methods and system herein enable a user to selectthe content presented to the user for the duration of the UV exposure.In one embodiment, the content selector 134, which is described belowwith reference to FIG. 5, enables a user to perform a touch-less (e.g.without touching the display 210 or another input device) selection ofthe content, thereby beneficially reducing the user's exposure tobacteria, viruses, microorganisms and other contaminants that oftenreside on such surfaces.

In a preferred embodiment, the UV sanitizer station 106 includes acommunications unit 250 that allows the UV sanitizer station 106 tocommunicate with a remote server 122 over a network 102. In oneembodiment, the server 122 uses a database to track the locations andidentities of the various stations 106 a-n.

In a preferred embodiment, the server 122 is responsible for maintainingand updating the exposure limiter 132, the content selector and thecontent 244 found in the memory 240 of the UV sanitizer station 100. Inone embodiment, the server 122 maintains available content 244 (e.g. adsand promotions) in a database and periodically makes this data availablefor download to the UV sanitizer station 106. In one embodiment, the UVsanitizer station 106 transmits information about ads displayed andpromotions presented by the station 100 to the server 122 for storage inits database as elements.

In one embodiment, the UV sanitizer station 106 provides to the server122 facial data and usage data that it collects. In a preferredembodiment, the server 122 collects this facial data and usage data(occasionally referred to as exposure data) from a plurality of UVsanitizer stations 106. This allows the server 122 or a databaseassociated therewith to be the repository of all usage data for all ofthe UV sanitizer stations 106. In one embodiment, this centralizedusage/exposure data is downloaded back to each UV sanitizer station 106to supplement the local data 248. In this way, each UV sanitizer station106 can use usage data from all of the UV sanitizer stations 106 whendetermining whether an additional use by the currently identified userwill exceed its safe use standard.

In one embodiment, the server 122 assigns the facial data of eachseparately identifiable individual to a particular user identifier. Thisuser ID can be used to link usage data with the facial data simply byassigning each usage event in the usage data to the appropriate useridentifier. In some embodiments, a particular user ID may be associatedwith several facial data records in the facial data. This is because thefacial recognition analysis of multiple images of the same individualwill contain slightly different facial feature information, as eachimage will be scored slightly differently by the facial recognitionalgorithms used by the UV sanitizer station 106. Although the scoreswill be close enough for the UV sanitizer station 106 and the server 122to identify the facial images as relating to the same person, it can beuseful to save the characteristics of each image in the facial data inorder to develop a more complete profile of that user's face.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of server 122 according to one embodiment. Theserver 122, as illustrated, may include a processor 302, a memory 304, acommunication unit 308, and a storage device 341, which may becommunicatively coupled by a communications bus 306. The server 122depicted in FIG. 3 is provided by way of example and it should beunderstood that it may take other forms and include additional or fewercomponents without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.For example, while not shown, the server 122 may include input andoutput devices (e.g., a display, a keyboard, a mouse, touch screen,speakers, etc.), various operating systems, sensors, additionalprocessors, and other physical configurations.

The processor 302, memory 304 and bus 306 may be similar to theprocessor 230, memory 240 and bus 232 of the hand sanitizer station 106described above. Depending on the embodiment, the exposure limiter 132may be included in the server 122 (e.g. as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and3), included in the hand sanitizer station 106 (e.g. as illustrated inFIG. 2B) or included in both the hand sanitizer station 106 and theserver 122. Similarly, depending on the embodiment, the content selectormay be included in the server 122 (e.g. as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and3), included in the hand sanitizer station 106 (e.g. as illustrated inFIG. 2B) or included in both the hand sanitizer station 106 and theserver 122.

The communication unit 308 is similar to communications unit 250 of thehand sanitizer station 106 and may include one or more interface devices(I/F) for wired and/or wireless connectivity with the network 102. Forinstance, the communication unit 208 may include, but is not limited to,CAT-type interfaces; wireless transceivers for sending and receivingsignals using radio transceivers (4G, 3G, 2G, etc.) for communicationwith the mobile network 103, and radio transceivers for Wi-Fi™ andclose-proximity (e.g., Bluetooth®, NFC, etc.) connectivity, etc.; USBinterfaces; various combinations thereof; etc. In some implementations,the communication unit 308 can link the processor 302 to the network102, which may in turn be coupled to other processing systems. Thecommunication unit 308 can provide other connections to the network 102and to other entities of the system 100 using various standard networkcommunication protocols.

The storage device 341 is an information source for storing andproviding access to data. In some implementations, the storage device341 may be coupled to the components 302, 304, and 308 of the computingdevice via the bus 306 to receive and provide access to data. In someimplementations, the storage device 341 may store various data in one ormore databases. For example, in one embodiment, the storage device 341includes one or more databases (not shown) storing UV sanitizer 106locations, available content (e.g. ads and promotions), presentedcontent (e.g. ads and promotions), redeemed content (e.g. redeemedpromotions), facial data, usage/exposure data, etc.

The storage device 341 may be included in the server 122 and/or astorage system distinct from but coupled to or accessible by the server122. The storage device 341 can include one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable mediums for storing the data. In some implementations,the storage device 341 may be incorporated with the memory 304 or may bedistinct therefrom. In some implementations, the storage device 341 mayinclude a database management system (DBMS) operable on the server 122.For example, the DBMS could include a structured query language (SQL)DBMS, a NoSQL DMBS, various combinations thereof, etc. In someinstances, the DBMS may store data in multi-dimensional tables comprisedof rows and columns, and manipulate, i.e., insert, query, update and/ordelete, rows of data using programmatic operations.

As mentioned above, the server 122 may include other and/or fewercomponents. Examples of other components may include a display, an inputdevice, a sensor, etc. (not shown). In one embodiment, the server 122includes a display. The display may display electronic images and dataoutput by the client device 106 for presentation to a user 112. Thedisplay may include any conventional display device, monitor or screen,including, for example, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display,a liquid crystal display (LCD), etc. In some implementations, thedisplay may be a touch-screen display capable of receiving input from astylus, one or more fingers of a user 112, etc. For example, the displaymay be a capacitive touch-screen display capable of detecting andinterpreting multiple points of contact with the display surface.

The input device (not shown) may include any device for inputtinginformation into the server 122. In some implementations, the inputdevice may include one or more peripheral devices. For example, theinput device may include a keyboard (e.g., a QWERTY keyboard or keyboardin any other language), a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or touchpad),microphone, an image/video capture device (e.g., camera), etc. In someimplementations, the input device may include a touch-screen displaycapable of receiving input from the one or more fingers of the user 112.

Example Exposure Limiter 132

Referring now to FIG. 4, the exposure limiter 132 is shown in moredetail according to one embodiment. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of theexposure limiter 132 included in a computing device (e.g., a server 122and/or hand sanitizing station 106) according to one embodiment.

In one embodiment, the exposure limiter 132 comprises a facial datareceiver module 420, an optional user screening module 422, a facialdata matching module 424, an exposure tracking module 426, an activationmodule 428 and an exposure quantification module 430.

In some embodiments, a module as used herein includes code and routinesfor performing the features and functionalities described with referenceto that module. In one embodiment, the module is a set of instructionsexecutable by the processor 230/302. In another embodiment, the moduleis stored in the memory 240/304 and is accessible and executable by theprocessor 230/302. In either embodiment, the module is adapted forcooperation and communication with the processor 230/302, othercomponents of the hand sanitizer station 106/server 122 and othercomponents of the exposure limiter 132.

It will be recognized that the modules 420, 422 (optional), 424, 426,428, 430 comprised in the exposure limiter 132 are not necessarily allon the same computing device. In one embodiment, the modules 420, 422(optional), 424, 426, 428, 430 and/or their functionality aredistributed across multiple computing devices. For example, in oneembodiment, the facial data receiver module 420, user screening module422, activation module 428 and exposure quantification module 430 areincluded in a hand sanitizer station 106 and the other modules 424 and426 are included in a server 122. Such embodiments may allow forincreased speed/performance, reduced network load, comparisons of facialdata centrally stored and maintained and received from multiple handsanitizing stations, or other benefits. It will be recognized that thepreceding is just an example of distributing modules across multiplecomputing devices (e.g. 106 a and 122) and that other examples exist. Itwill be further recognized that the functionality of any particularmodule may be distributed across multiple computing devices (e.g.multiple servers 122).

The facial data receiver module 420 receives facial data based on animage captured at the hand sanitizer station. In one embodiment, thecamera of a hand sanitizer station automatically captures an image upondetecting an initiation event. An initiation event may vary based on theembodiment. Examples of an initiation event include, but are not limitedto, detecting a user (or other object) positioned in front of the handsanitizer station, detecting that the user has positioned the user'shands (or other object) for sanitation, etc. It should be recognizedthat the preceding are just examples of initiation events and otherexist and are within the scope of disclosure. It should also berecognized that the initiation events may be detected based on sensorinputs from one or more sensors e.g., weight sensors on a pad placed infront of the hand sanitizer station to detect when a user is in front ofthe hand sanitizer, acoustic sensors (e.g. ultrasound, sonar,microphone, etc.) to detect the presence of a user and/or the user'shands, thermal sensors (e g infrared) to detect the presence of a userand/or the user's hands, optical sensors (e.g. laser or laser rangefinder) to detect the presence of a user and/or the user's hands, imagesensors (e.g. a camera and image processor to determine when a user ispresent and facing the sensor), etc.

The facial data receiver module 420 receives facial data based on animage captured at the hand sanitizer station. In one embodiment, thefacial data receiver module 420 receives an image of a face captured bya camera 214 of the hand sanitizer 106 as facial data. In anotherembodiment, the facial data receiver module 420 receives arepresentation of a face generated from an image of a face captured bythe hand sanitizer station 106. For example, in one embodiment, thefacial data receiver module 420 receives data based on landmarks of aface including, for example, the corners of a user's mouth, the user'snose, the corners of the user's eyes, etc. as facial data. It should berecognized that the preceding are just examples of facial data andexamples of facial data and that others exist and their use iscontemplated and within the scope of the disclosure herein. It should berecognized that the description herein refers to facial data throughoutthe description of the exposure limiter 132. However, it should be notedthat, in some embodiments, the form of the facial data may vary frommodule to module and/or at different stages of the facial recognitionprocess. For example, in one embodiment, the facial data receiver module420 may receive the raw image that includes a user's face captured bythe camera 214 of the hand sanitizing station 106 (i.e. a first type offacial data) and identify landmarks of facial features (i.e. a secondtype of facial data) and the user screening module 422 or another moduleof the exposure limiter 132 utilizes those landmarks (i.e. the secondtype of facial data) as the facial data for performing the functionalityassociated with that module.

In one embodiment, the facial data receiver module 420 passes the facialdata to one or more of the user screening module 422 and the facial datamatching module 424. For example, the facial data receiver module 420 iscommunicatively coupled to one or more of the user screening module 422and the facial data matching module 424 to send the facial data to oneor more of the user screening module 422 and the facial data matchingmodule 424. In another embodiment, the facial data receiver module 420stores the facial data in the storage device 341 (or any othernon-transitory storage medium communicatively accessible). The othermodules of the facial data receiver module 420 including, e.g., the userscreening module 422 and the facial data matching module 424, canretrieve the facial data by accessing the storage device 341 (or othernon-transitory storage medium).

The optional user screening module 422 screens users based on the facialdata itself. For example, the user screening module 422 screens usersusing one or more of approximate height, age, developmental stage (e.g.adult adolescent, child), etc. based on the facial data itself. In oneembodiment, the user screening module 422 analyzes the facial data todetermine an approximate height of the user. For example, the userscreening module 422 uses a known height and angle at which the camerais mounted on the hand sanitizing station to calculate an approximateheight of the user from the facial data (e.g. if the user's faceappeared lower X portion of the frame, the user is likely short andbetween X and Y inches tall). In one embodiment, the user screeningmodule 422 analyzes the facial data to determine an approximate age ofthe user. For example, the user screening module 422 uses one or moreratios and/or proportions associated with facial features to approximatethe age of the user. Therefore, the user screening module 422beneficially provides a mechanism for identifying users having certainphysical characteristics such as children who are typically short withfaces that have ratios and proportions associated with youth andprohibiting them from exposure to the UV light.

In one embodiment, when the user screening module 422 screens a user(e.g. determines the user is likely a child based on the facial data),the user screening module 422 passes a “Deny” message to the activationmodule 428 and the activation module 428 does not activate the UV source222. For example, the user screening module 422 is communicativelycoupled to the activation module 428 to send the “Deny” message to theactivation module 428. In another embodiment, the user screening module422 stores the “Deny” message in the storage device 341 (or any othernon-transitory storage medium communicatively accessible). The othermodules of the exposure limiter including, e.g., the activation module428, can retrieve the “Deny” message by accessing the storage device 341(or other non-transitory storage medium).

In an embodiment, that omits the user screening module 422 or in anotherembodiment that includes the user screening module 422 and in which theuser is not screened by the user screening module 422, the facial datamatching module 424 identifies whether the facial data matches facialdata associated with a previous use of a hand sanitizer station.

The facial data matching module 424 determines whether the facial datareceived by the facial data receiver module 420 matches facial data of aprevious use of a hand sanitizer station. For example, in oneembodiment, the facial data matching module 424 accesses a database ofstored facial data each associated with one or more previous uses of ahand sanitizer station and determines whether the facial data receivedby the facial data receiver module 420 matches facial data from thedatabase.

In one embodiment, when the facial data matching module 424 determinesthat there is a match between the facial data received by the facialdata receiver module 420 for a current/immediate user and facial dataassociated with a previous use of a hand sanitizer station, the facialdata matching module 424 identifies the match to the exposure trackingmodule 426 and the exposure tracking module 426 obtains the exposuredata associated with that facial data. To summarize and simplify, thefacial data matching module 424 determines if the current user of thehand sanitizer station has previously used a hand sanitizer stationbased on whether there is a match and the exposure tracking module 426will obtain the data associated with that user or, according to oneembodiment, that user's facial data.

In one embodiment, the facial data matching module 424 passes theidentification of the match to the exposure tracking module 426. Forexample, the facial data matching module 424 is communicatively coupledto the exposure tracking module 426 to send the identification of thematch to the exposure tracking module 426. In another embodiment, thefacial data matching module 424 stores the identification of the matchin the storage device 341 (or any other non-transitory storage mediumcommunicatively accessible). The other modules of the exposure limiter132 including, e.g., the exposure tracking module 426, can retrieve theidentification of the match by accessing the storage device 341 (orother non-transitory storage medium).

In one embodiment, when the facial data matching module 424 determinesthat there is no match between the facial data received by the facialdata receiver module 420 and facial data associated with a previous useof a hand sanitizer station 106, the facial data matching module 424identifies the absence of a match to the exposure tracking module 426and the exposure tracking module 426 creates a new user to track andstores the facial data associated with that new user.

Depending on the embodiment, the facial data associated with a previoususes of a hand sanitizer station may be stored locally at the handsanitizing station 106, remotely at the server 122 or both. In oneembodiment, the facial data associated with a previous uses of a handsanitizer station used by the facial data matching module 424 is notlimited to facial data associated with a previous uses of a handsanitizer station for previous uses of that single machine. For example,in some embodiments, the facial data associated with a previous uses ofa hand sanitizer station is a comprehensive collection of facial dataassociated with a previous uses of a hand sanitizer station acrossmultiple hand sanitizer stations 106. Such embodiments may beneficiallyallow enforcement of a safe use limit regardless of whether the userrepeatedly uses the same hand sanitizer station 106 or uses differenthand sanitizer stations 106 in series.

In one embodiment, the comprehensive facial data associated withprevious uses of a hand sanitizer station is stored in a centraldatabase (e.g. on storage device 341 of the server 122). In oneembodiment, a copy of the comprehensive facial data associated withprevious uses of a hand sanitizer station is copied to the handsanitizer station 106 from the central database maintained by the server122. In another embodiment, the comprehensive facial data associatedwith a previous uses of a hand sanitizer station is stored in a locally(e.g. in the memory 240 of each hand sanitizer station 106 andsynchronization messages are exchanged between the hand sanitizerstations 106 to maintain the comprehensiveness and accuracy of thefacial data associated with a previous uses of a hand sanitizer stationat each of the hand sanitizer stations 106 in the system).

In one embodiment, the facial data matching module 424 passes theabsence of the match to the exposure tracking module 426. For example,the facial data matching module 424 is communicatively coupled to thelocation determination module 328 to send the absence of the match tothe exposure tracking module 426. In another embodiment, the facial datamatching module 424 stores the absence of the match in the storagedevice 341 (or any other non-transitory storage medium communicativelyaccessible). The other modules of the exposure limiter 132 including,e.g., the exposure tracking module 426, can retrieve the absence of amatch by accessing the storage device 341 (or other non-transitorystorage medium).

The exposure tracking module 426 tracks user UV exposure. In oneembodiment, the exposure tracking module 426 tracks user UV exposure byrecording one or more metrics associated with UV exposure in associationwith a user or a user's facial data. The one or more metrics tracked andrecorded by the exposure tracking module 426 may vary depending on theembodiment. Examples of metrics associated with UV exposure include, butare not limited to, number of exposures (e.g. how many time the user hassanitized his/her hands), duration of exposure (e.g. seconds ormilliseconds), intensity/brightness of exposure (e.g. microwatts persquare centimeter or using a proxy such as the wattage of the UV bulbused in the hand sanitizing station 106), frequency of exposure (e.g.number of exposures per hour/day/week/etc.), a function of thepreviously mentioned metrics (e.g. a sum of the product of the durationof exposure the radiation intensity measured in microwatts per squarecentimeter for each exposure for the last X hours), etc.

In one embodiment, the exposure tracking module 426 uses a table orother data structure to organize exposure data on a per user basis. Forexample, in one embodiment, each set of facial data which is uniquelyassociated with a user's face is associated with a row in a table andthe row stores the exposure data such as one or more of the metricsabove. In one embodiment, when the facial data matching module 424identifies a match, the exposure tracking module 426 obtains theexposure data associated with the identified matching facial data. Inone embodiment, when the facial data matching module 424 identifies anabsence of a match, the exposure tracking module 426 creates a new userand tracks the exposure of that new user. For example, the exposuretracking module 426 adds a row to the table and associates the facialdata with that row.

Depending on the embodiment, the exposure data may be stored locally atthe hand sanitizing station 106, remotely at the server 122 or both. Inone embodiment, the exposure data obtained by the exposure trackingmodule 426 is not limited to exposure data for users of a singlemachine. For example, in some embodiments, the exposure data is acomprehensive collection of exposure data across multiple hand sanitizerstations 106. Such embodiments may beneficially allow enforcement of asafe use limit regardless of whether the user repeatedly uses the samehand sanitizer station 106 or uses different hand sanitizer stations 106in series.

In one embodiment, the exposure data (occasionally referred to herein asusage data is shared with a server computer system 122. The server 122,in turn, shares this data with multiple UV sanitizer stations 106 toprevent excessive use by a single user across multiple stations. In oneembodiment, the comprehensive exposure data including the one or moremetrics and associated with facial recognition data is stored in acentral database (e.g. on storage device 341 of the server 122). In oneembodiment, a copy of the comprehensive exposure data including the oneor more metrics and associated with facial recognition data is copied tothe hand sanitizer station 106 from the central database maintained bythe server 122. In another embodiment, the comprehensive exposure dataincluding the one or more metrics and associated with facial recognitiondata is stored in a locally (e.g. in the memory 240 of each handsanitizer station 106 and synchronization messages are exchanged betweenthe hand sanitizer stations 106 to maintain the comprehensiveness andaccuracy of the exposure data at each of the hand sanitizer stations 106in the system).

In one embodiment, exposure tracking module 426 updates the exposuredata based on information received from the exposure quantificationmodule 430, which is discussed below.

Depending on the embodiment, the facial data associated with theexposure data may vary. In some embodiments, only the most recent facialdata is stored in association with the one or more metrics. For example,when the facial data matching module 424 identifies a match between thefacial data of the user present at the hand sanitizer station andreceived by the facial data receiver module 420 with facial dataassociated with a previous use (or attempted use), the exposure trackingmodule 426 over-writes the facial data associated with a previous usefacial data associated with a previous use with the facial data of theuser present at the hand sanitizer station 106 and received by thefacial data receiver module 420. In some embodiments as mentioned above,multiple sets of facial data are associated with exposure data for asingle user in order to have a more complete representation of theuser's face and feature set. In some embodiments, the facial data storedis merely a mathematical representation of facial features andcharacteristics and cannot be used to reverse engineer a user's facialfeatures or an image thereof.

In some embodiments, user identification information other than facialdata is not stored. For example, there is no name or other personalidentification associated the facial data and metrics data. Such anembodiment, may increase privacy and anonymity for the user which may bedesirable. However, in some embodiments, a user can register and provideuser identification information in addition to facial data for storageand association. For example, assume an employee of a food chainregisters with the system 100 and provides one or more of an employeenumber, name, phone number, e-mail address, or some other personalinformation. In one embodiment, the personal information may be storedwith the facial data of that user and the exposure data metrics. Such anembodiment particularly if coupled with RFID, Beacon, or other physicaltracking technology may beneficially allow an employer to track whetheran employee is complying with company policy or a government regulations(e.g. sanitizing their hands regularly and/or after visiting therestroom, etc.).

In some embodiments, exposure data and facial data may time-out and beexpunged from the system 100. For example, assume that the safeuse/exposure limitation is based on a 24 hour period. In one embodiment,the exposure tracking module 426 may expunge all facial data andassociated usage metrics more than 24 hours old. In one embodiment, asmetrics associated with usage outside that 24 hour period time-outtotals (e.g. cumulative usage over the past 24 hours) may berecalculated.

In one embodiment, the exposure tracking module 426 passes the exposuredata to the activation module 428. For example, the exposure trackingmodule 426 is communicatively coupled to the activation module 428 tosend the exposure data to the activation module 428. In anotherembodiment, the exposure tracking module 426 stores the exposure data inthe storage device 341 (or any other non-transitory storage mediumcommunicatively accessible). The other modules of the exposure limiter132 including, e.g., the activation module 428, can retrieve theexposure data by accessing the storage device 341 (or othernon-transitory storage medium).

The activation module 428 determines whether the UV lamp of the handsanitizer station 106 is activated to sanitize the user's hands based onthe exposure data and a safe use standard (occasionally referred toherein as an exposure limit). In one embodiment, the activation module428 determines not to activate the UV source 222 of the hand sanitizerstation 106 to sanitize the user's hands when the exposure dataindicates that the user has already met or exceed the safe use/exposurelimitation or, in some embodiment, when an activation would cause theuser to meet or exceed the safe use/exposure limitation. The safeuse/exposure limitation may vary depending on the embodiment. In oneembodiment, the safe use/exposure limit may be based on one or more ofthe metrics discussed above with reference to exposure data.

The exposure quantification module 430 quantifies the user's UV exposurefrom the hand sanitation process. The quantification performed by theexposure quantification module 430 varies depending on the embodimentand typically coincides with the metrics maintained by the exposuretracking module 426. For example, assume the safe use/exposure limit isbased solely on a number of uses; in one embodiment, the exposuretracking module 426 may only track a number of uses and the exposurequantification module 430 may only determine whether an activationoccurred and the number of uses should be incremented in the exposuredata.

In one embodiment, the exposure quantification module 430 quantifies theuser's UV exposure from the hand sanitation process explicitly based onmeasurements. For example, in one embodiment, the one or more sensors126 of the hand sanitizer station 106 include a photo sensor and theexposure quantification module 430 receives data from the photo sensor(e.g. a radiation intensity and duration) of the user's exposure duringthe hand sanitation process and uses those measurements to quantify theuser's exposure.

In one embodiment, the exposure quantification module 430 quantifies theuser's UV exposure from the hand sanitation process implicitly. Forexample, in one embodiment, the exposure quantification module 430 maytrack the number of activations of the UV light source (which in someembodiments may be of a fixed duration) since the light source (e.g.bulb) was last replaced and use an experimentally derived curve thatrepresents the decay of the UV light source's performance as the bulb isused to determine how much exposure the user received during the handsanitation process.

In one embodiment, the exposure quantification module 430 quantifies theuser's UV exposure from the hand sanitation process both implicitly andexplicitly. For example, in one embodiment, the exposure quantificationmodule 430 may use sensors to track durations (which are varied in oneembodiment to maintain a level of exposure sufficient for sanitizationas the bulb progressively dims through its life-cycle) of activations ofthe UV light source since the light source (e.g. bulb) was last replacedand uses an experimentally derived curve that represents the decay ofthe UV light source's performance as the bulb is used to determine howmuch exposure the user received during a particular hand sanitationprocess.

In one embodiment, the exposure quantification module 430 provides thequantified UV exposure to the exposure tracking module 426 to update theexposure data. In one embodiment, the exposure quantification module 430provides the quantified UV exposure to the activation module 428 for theactivation module 428 to adjust the duration of the activation of the UVlight source (e.g. to increase the duration as the UV light source 222ages and loses intensity/effectiveness).

In one embodiment, the exposure quantification module 430 passes thequantified UV exposure to one or more of the exposure tracking module426 and the activation module 428. For example, the exposurequantification module 430 is communicatively coupled to one or more ofthe exposure tracking module 426 and the activation module 428 to sendthe quantified UV exposure to one or more of the exposure trackingmodule 426 and the activation module 428. In another embodiment, theexposure quantification module 430 stores the quantified UV exposure inthe storage device 341 (or any other non-transitory storage mediumcommunicatively accessible). The other modules of the exposure limiter132 including, e.g., one or more of the exposure tracking module 426 andthe activation module 428, can retrieve the quantified UV exposure byaccessing the storage device 341 (or other non-transitory storagemedium).

Example Content Selector 134

Referring now to FIG. 5, the content selector 134 is shown in moredetail according to one embodiment. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of thecontent selector 134 according to one embodiment. The content selector134 enables a touchless user selection of content to be presented to theuser during the UV hand sanitation process.

In one embodiment, the content selector 134 comprises a selectablecontent presentation module 520, a selection determination module 522,an optional selection tracking module 524 and a selected contentpresentation module 526.

In some embodiments, a module as used herein includes code and routinesfor performing the features and functionalities described with referenceto that module. In one embodiment, the module is a set of instructionsexecutable by the processor 230/302. In another embodiment, the moduleis stored in the memory 240/304 and is accessible and executable by theprocessor 230/302. In either embodiment, the module is adapted forcooperation and communication with the processor 230/302, othercomponents of the hand sanitizer station 106/server 122 and othercomponents of the content selector 134.

It will be recognized that the modules 520, 522, 524, 526 comprised inthe content selector 134 are not necessarily all on the same computingdevice. In one embodiment, the modules 520, 522, 524, 526 and/or theirfunctionality are distributed across multiple computing devices. Forexample, in one embodiment, the selection tracking module 524 isincluded in a server 122 and the other modules are included in a handsanitizer station 106. It will be recognized that the preceding is justan example of distributing modules across multiple computing devices(e.g. 106 a and 122) and that other examples exist.

The selectable content presentation module 520 presents graphic elementsassociated with content eligible for selection by the user. Examples ofsuch graphic elements include, but are not limited to icons, animations,video clips, thumbnails, etc. In some embodiments, the content includesone or more advertisements. For example, in one embodiment, the contenteligible for display includes advertisements associated with thelocation in which the hand sanitizing station is located. For example,in a preferred embodiment, the hand sanitizer station would be locatedin a public area of Retailer A and present graphic elements associatedwith advertisements for products sold by Retailer A.

In preferred embodiments, the content selector 134 enables the user toselect content such as an advertisement without touching the handsanitizer station 106 and risking further contamination through touch.Depending on the embodiment, the touchless selection of content may usedifferent sensors and mechanisms and the selectable content presentationmodule 520 presents the content eligible for selection by the user basedon the sensors and touch-less mechanism used. For example, referring toFIG. 9, in some embodiments, the sanitizer station's display 210 isdivided up into various sections each presenting a graphic element 910,920, 930, 940, 950, 960 associated with an advertisement. While FIG. 9illustrates six graphic elements 910, 920, 930, 940, 950, 960 arrangedin a grid two graphic elements wide and three tall, it should berecognized that FIG. 9 is merely an example according to one embodiment,and any number of graphic elements may be presented in any format.

In one such embodiment, the selectable content presentation module 520presents these graphic elements and then cycles through the presentedgraphical items highlighting (or otherwise visually distinguishing) oneat a time. For example, in the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 9, thedashed line indicates that graphic element 930 is presently highlighted.After a period of time (e.g. 1-3 seconds), graphic element 930 would nolonger be highlighted and graphic element 940 would be highlightedabsent a selection by the user. In another such embodiment, one or moremicro-sonar sensors are located behind the display and the user may usehis fingers and gesture close to, but without touching, the display 210and the selectable content presentation module 520 presents thesegraphic elements and highlights (or otherwise visually distinguishes)the graphic element 930 based on the gestures. In still other suchembodiment, a user's eyes' pupils may be tracked to determine whichgraphic element associated with content to highlight. In yet anotherembodiment, the user may make gestures that are picked up by one or morecameras 214 of the sanitizer station 106 and highlights a graphicelement based on those gestures.

In one embodiment, the selectable content presentation module 520receives updated content (e.g. new ads and promotions) for potentialpresentation to users from the server 122. For example, the selectablecontent presentation module 520 may receive updated content (e.g. newads and promotions) for potential presentation to users from the server122 on a weekly basis when a retailer changes its ads and promotionsweekly.

The selection determination module 522 determines which content eligiblefor selection is selected for presentation to the user. In a preferredembodiment, the content selected for presentation is the contentassociated with the highlighted graphic element when the hand sanitizerstation 106 sensor 126 detects that the user has place his/her hands oranother object into the compartment. For example, referring again toFIG. 9, graphic element 930 is presently highlighted, so, in oneembodiment, if a user was to place his/her hands in the compartment 220of the station 106, the advertisement for cereal associated with graphicelement 930 is presented to the user during the UV sanitation cycle.

The selection tracking module 524 is optional and may be omitted in someembodiments. In one embodiment, the selection tracking module 524 tracksand provides data and analytics regarding the content presented tousers. Examples may include, but are not limited to, one or more ofviews, unique views, demographics of viewers, identifiers for viewers,etc. In one embodiment, the selection tracking module 524 tracks andprovides data and analytics regarding the supplemental contentincluding, e.g. the number of redemptions of promotions and coupons,redemption rates, characteristics of redeemers, etc. The data tracked bythe selection tracking module may be stored by one or more of the server122 and the hand sanitizer station 106.

The selected content presentation module 526 presents content which mayinclude one or more of advertisements and promotions. In one embodiment,the selected content presentation module 526 presents contentconcurrently with hand sanitation process (e.g. while the UV lightsource and blower are on). In one embodiment, the selected contentpresentation module 526 presents content having a run-time/durationapproximately the same as the duration of the UV exposure for the handsanitation process.

In one embodiment, the selected content presentation module 526 maypresent supplemental content to the user after the hand sanitation andconcurrent content (e.g. an advertisement) presentation have finished.For example, in one embodiment, the selected content presentation module526 presents the user with a promotion or a coupon for the same productor a product related to the product that was the subject of theadvertisement.

In one embodiment, the supplemental content is presented to the user bythe selected content presentation module 526 using the display 210 ofthe sanitizer station 106. For example, in one embodiment, the selectedcontent presentation module 526 presents a 1D barcode or a 2D barcode(e.g. a QR Code) to the user after the advertisement is played and theuser may scan or take a picture to capture an image of that barcode andreceive an electronic coupon/promotion associated with the barcode.

In one embodiment, the supplemental content is presented to the user bythe selected content presentation module 526 using another channel. Forexample, in one embodiment, the selected content presentation module 526prints a coupon/promotion associated with the product featured in thepresented advertisement. In another example, in one embodiment, theselected content presentation module 526 pushes a coupon/promotionassociated with the product featured in the presented advertisement tothe user's mobile device (e.g. via a retailer specific app running onthe user's mobile device, via an SMS text to which they may respond toreceive a coupon, by identifying the user's mobile device through facialrecognition, RFID of the mobile device, etc.).

In one embodiment, facial recognition such as that performed by theexposure limiter 132 may influence the content that is selected andpresented to the user. For example, in one embodiment, the contentselector 134 or one or more of its modules 520, 522, 524, 526 iscommunicatively coupled to access and/or receive information regardingthe facial recognition performed and tracking data maintained by theexposure limiter 132. In one embodiment, when the content selector 134determines (or is informed by the exposure limiter 132) that the user isa first time user or new user (e.g. those that have used a handsanitizing station 106 less than X times or have not used the a handsanitizing station 106 in the last Y months) based on facial data, thecontent selector 134 selects and presents educational content to educatethat first-time/new user regarding one or more of how to operate thehand sanitizing station 106, the functions and services provided by thea hand sanitizing station 106, the benefits of hand sanitation, etc. Inone such embodiment, when the content selector 134 determines (or isinformed by the exposure limiter 132) determines that the user is not afirst time user or new user based on facial data, the content selector134 and its modules 520, 522, 524, 526 operate as described in theparagraphs above (e.g. allow a user to touch-lessly select anadvertisement or other content for presentation rather than beingpresented the educational content).

Example Methods

FIGS. 6-8 depict various methods 600, 700, 800 performed by the systemdescribed above in reference to FIGS. 1-5. Steps that are optional orperformed by optional modules are occasionally depicted in dashed boxes.

The process 600 for enforcing a safe use standard/exposure limit for aUV hand sanitizer station 106 based on facial recognition is shown inFIG. 6 according to one embodiment. This process 600 begins at step 602,with the facial data receiver module 420 receiving facial data. At step604, when the optional user screening module 422 is included in theembodiment, the user screening module 422 determines whether the usershould be screened out based on the facial data (e.g. height and ageinferred based on characteristics of facial features). If the userscreening module 422 determines that the user is to be screened out(604—yes), the method 600 ends and the UV light source is not activated.If the user screening module 422 determines that the user is not to bescreened out (604—no), the method 600 continues at block 606.

At block 606, the facial data matching module 424 determines whether thefacial data received at block 602 matches facial data associated with aprevious hand sanitizer station use. If the facial data matching module424 determines that the facial data received at block 602 does not matchfacial data associated with a previous hand sanitizer station use(606—no), the method 600 continues at block 610 and the activationmodule 428 activates the UV light source. If the facial data matchingmodule 424 determines that the facial data received at block 602 matchesfacial data associated with a previous hand sanitizer station use(606—yes), the method 600 continues at block 608.

At block 608, the activation module 428 determines whether the userassociated with the matched facial data has reached a safe uselimitation. If the activation module 428 determines that the userassociated with the matched facial data has reached a safe uselimitation (608—yes), the method 600 ends and the UV light source is notactivated. If the activation module 428 determines that the userassociated with the matched facial data has not reached a safe uselimitation (608—no), the method 600 continues at block 610 and theactivation module 428 activates the UV light source. At block 612, theexposure tracking module 426 updates exposure data for the user based onthe exposure resulting from the activation of the UV light source atblock 610 and the method ends.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of another example method for enforcing a safe usestandard/exposure limit for a UV hand sanitizer based on facialrecognition according to another embodiment. The illustrated method 700begins at block 702. At block 702, the selectable content presentationmodule 520 displays a plurality of graphic elements associated withcontent the user may select from (e.g. advertisement (“ad”) choices). Atblock 704, a determination as to whether the sensor 226 has detected thepresence of hands or another object in the compartment 220. If not(704—No), the method 700 returns to step 702 and the presentation of theadvertisement choices. It is determined that the sensor 226 has detectedhands or an object in the compartment 220 (704—Yes), the exposurelimiter 132 or a module thereof applies facial recognition algorithms toan image captured by the camera 214 at block 706. The intent of thisanalysis in one embodiment is to identify facial features by extractinglandmarks from the image of the user's face. Landmarks that are commonlyused in facial recognition algorithms include the relative position,size, and shape of the eyes, nose, cheekbones, and jaw. This data isthen compared with stored facial data associated with previous usage ofthe hand sanitizer station 106 to see if this user has previously usedthe UV sanitizer station 106 a (or any other UV sanitizer stations suchas station 106 n).

If the current user's facial features match a previous user in thefacial data 248, the past usage associated with this previous user isobtained. At block 708, the activation module 428 compares this pastusage history (occasionally referred to herein as exposure data or usagedata) to the safe use standard to see if this current user would exceedthis standard. If the current use is considered excessive, the method700 does not activate UV sanitization and returns to displaying adchoices in step 702. In some embodiments, the UV sanitizer station 106displays an error message on the display 210 informing the user thatthis usage would exceed their recommended maximum UV exposure.

In an alternative embodiment, the UV sanitizer station 100 does notstore any facial data and usage data locally, but rather reliesexclusively on live access to the facial data and usage data maintainedby the server 122 (e.g. in the storage device 341). In one suchembodiment, the UV sanitizer station 106 will transmit facial data(either the analyzed landmarks recovered from the camera image or theactual image acquired by the camera 214) to the server 122. The server122 is then responsible for comparing the user's face against storedfacial data in order to identify a user and a usage history (fromexposure data). The server 122 can then either transmit the usagehistory back to the UV sanitizer station 106 for the block 708 analysis,or the server 708 can perform this analysis itself (by comparing theusage history/exposure data against the safe use standard). If theserver 122 performs this analysis, the server would then send a“activate UV sanitization” or “don't activate UV sanitization” signalback to the UV sanitizer station 106. In one embodiment, whether or notthe server 122 performs the block 708 analysis, the server 122 isresponsible for storing the facial data and/or updated usage data in itsstorage device 341.

If the activation module 428 determines that the current usage does notexceed the safe usage standard for this user, the UV sanitizer station106 activates the hand sanitizer at block 710 (by turning on the UVlight source 222 and the blower 224) and the selected contentpresentation module 526 concurrently presents an advertisement or othercontent on the display 210 at step 712. Once the hand sanitizer processhas completed and the advertisement has been displayed, at block 714,the selected content presentation module 526 of the UV sanitizer station106 presents to the user a promotion that is related to the ad displayedat step 712.

At step 716, the exposure quantification module 430 of the UV sanitizerstation 106 submits data to the server 122 concerning this usage of thestation 106. In particular, the station 106 must identify that thisparticular user has used the UV sterilization process. If the user wasidentified as a previous user through facial recognition, depending onthe embodiment, all that may be necessary is to submit the useridentifier of that user and the date and time that the process wasprovided. In embodiments where facial data from multiple images of thesame individual are stored in server 122 data storage device 341, the UVsanitizer station 106 submits the user identifier, facial data from thejust captured image of the user, and the data and time of the process tothe server 122.

In one embodiment, when communicating with the server 122, the UVsanitizer station 106 may also download user data and usage data (e.g.exposure data 248) from the server 122 in order to supplement the data248 that the UV sanitizer station 106 maintains in its own memory 240.This takes place at block 718, and is one method of ensuring that UVsanitizer station 106 a will be aware of uses at all other stations 106,including second UV sanitizer station 106 b. However, it should berecognized that in some embodiments the UV sanitizer station 106 doesnot make use of local data 248 and instead relies upon the server 122 tomaintain this data and block 718 is not necessary. The method 700 thenends.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example method for touch-less user-selectionof content for presentation on a hand sanitizer device 106 according toanother embodiment. The illustrated method 800 begins at block 805. Atblock 805, the selectable content presentation module 520 presents aplurality of ad choices (e.g. graphic elements associated with contenteligible for presentation to the user) on a display 210. At block 810,the selectable content presentation module 520 highlights the next addchoice and pauses at block 815 (e.g. for 1-3 seconds).

At block 820, the selection determination module 522 determines whetheran initiation event is detected (e.g. whether the sensor 226 hasdetected the presence of the user's hands or another object in thecompartment 220). If the selection determination module 522 does notdetect an initiation event (820—No), the method 800 continues to block825. If the selection determination module 522 does detect an initiationevent (820—Yes), the method 800 continues at blocks 835 and 840.

At block 825, the selectable content presentation module 520 determineswhether it is time to change ads (e.g. to receive updated ads at thesanitizer station 106 from the server 122). If the selectable contentpresentation module 520 determines that it is not time to change ads(825—No), the method 800 continues at block 810 and the selectablecontent presentation module 520 highlights the next ad choice. If theselectable content presentation module 520 determines that it is time tochange ads (825 Yes), the method continues at block 830 where theselectable content presentation module 520 receives new ads andpromotions from the server 127 before continuing to block 805.

Blocks 835 and 840 occur concurrently. At block 835, the activationmodule 428 activates the hand sanitizer (e.g. by turning on the UVsource). At block 840, the selected content presentation module 526presents the currently highlighted ad choice. The method 800 continuesat block 845. At block 845, the selected content presentation module 526presents a promotion related to the ad displayed at block 840 (i.e.supplemental content). At block 850, the selection tracking module 524reports the presentation of the promotion to the server 122. At block855, the user redeems the promotion and, at block 860, the selectiontracking module 524 tracks the redemption (e.g. updates promotionredemption data stored on the storage device 341 of the server 122), andthe method 800 ends. In one embodiment, the functionality of theselection tracking module 524 and the reporting of the redemption may beaccomplished by the retailer's point of sale system, a coupon redemptionclearing house, an electronic coupon app provider or other system ableto detect redemption of a particular coupon.

In the above description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe present disclosure. However, it should be understood that thetechnology described herein can be practiced without these specificdetails. Further, various systems, devices, and structures are shown inblock diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the description. Forinstance, various implementations are described as having particularhardware, software, and user interfaces. However, the present disclosureapplies to any type of computing device that can receive data andcommands, and to any peripheral devices providing services.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment.

In some instances, various implementations may be presented herein interms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on databits within a computer memory. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent set of operations leading to a desiredresult. The operations are those requiring physical manipulations ofphysical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantitiestake the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored,transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It hasproven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, torefer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters,terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion,it is appreciated that throughout this disclosure, discussions utilizingterms including “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,”“displaying,” or the like, refer to the action and processes of acomputer system, or similar electronic computing device, thatmanipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic)quantities within the computer system's registers and memories intoother data similarly represented as physical quantities within thecomputer system memories or registers or other such information storage,transmission or display devices.

Various implementations described herein may relate to an apparatus forperforming the operations herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise ageneral-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by acomputer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may bestored in a computer readable storage medium, including, but is notlimited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks,CD-ROMs, and magnetic disks, read-only memories (ROMs), random accessmemories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, flashmemories including USB keys with non-volatile memory or any type ofmedia suitable for storing electronic instructions, each coupled to acomputer system bus.

The technology described herein can take the form of an entirelyhardware implementation, an entirely software implementation, orimplementations containing both hardware and software elements. Forinstance, the technology may be implemented in software, which includesbut is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.Additionally, the disclosure is in no way limited to implementation inany specific programming language, or for any specific operating systemor environment.

Furthermore, the technology can take the form of a computer programproduct accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable mediumproviding program code for use by or in connection with a computer orany instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description,a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any non-transitorystorage apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, ortransport the program for use by or in connection with the instructionexecution system, apparatus, or device.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode may include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectlyto memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can includelocal memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulkstorage, and cache memories that provide temporary storage of at leastsome program code in order to reduce the number of times code must beretrieved from bulk storage during execution. Input/output or I/Odevices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointingdevices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or throughintervening I/O controllers.

Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the dataprocessing system to become coupled to other data processing systems,storage devices, remote printers, etc., through intervening privateand/or public networks. Wireless (e.g., Wi-Fi™) transceivers, Ethernetadapters, and modems, are just a few examples of network adapters. Theprivate and public networks may have any number of configurations and/ortopologies. Data may be transmitted between these devices via thenetworks using a variety of different communication protocols including,for example, various Internet layer, transport layer, or applicationlayer protocols. For example, data may be transmitted via the networksusing transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), userdatagram protocol (UDP), transmission control protocol (TCP), hypertexttransfer protocol (HTTP), secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS),dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH), real-time streamingprotocol (RTSP), real-time transport protocol (RTP) and the real-timetransport control protocol (RTCP), voice over Internet protocol (VOIP),file transfer protocol (FTP), WebSocket (WS), wireless access protocol(WAP), various messaging protocols (SMS, MMS, XMS, IMAP, SMTP, POP,WebDAV, etc.), or other known protocols.

Finally, the structure, algorithms, and/or interfaces presented hereinare not inherently related to any particular computer or otherapparatus. Various general-purpose systems may be used with programs inaccordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient toconstruct more specialized apparatus to perform the required methodblocks. The required structure for a variety of these systems willappear from the description above. In addition, the specification is notdescribed with reference to any particular programming language. It willbe appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used toimplement the teachings of the specification as described herein.

The foregoing description has been presented for the purposes ofillustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or tolimit the specification to the precise form disclosed. Manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteaching. It is intended that the scope of the disclosure be limited notby this detailed description, but rather by the claims of thisapplication. As will be understood by those familiar with the art, thespecification may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Accordingly, thedisclosure is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of thescope of the subject matter set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a sensor configured todetect an initiation event; a camera configured to capture an image of auser's face responsive to the initiation event, the cameracommunicatively coupled to the sensor; and an ultraviolet sourceconfigured to activate responsive to facial recognition and adetermination based on one of exposure data associated with the user andthe absence thereof that the user has not exceed a safe use standard forultraviolet light; the ultraviolet source and an activation durationsufficient to sanitize a surface located within a compartment.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1 further comprising: a display configured to visuallypresent a plurality of graphic elements associated with a plurality ofpotential content for presentation to the user, the displaycommunicatively coupled to the ultraviolet source and presenting userselected content to the user when the ultraviolet source is activatedand responsive to determining a user's selection, wherein the user'sselection is made touch-lessly.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein thecontent presented to the user has a duration similar to the activationduration.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the display is furtherconfigured to present supplemental information to the user after aconclusion of the content presented to the user when the ultravioletsource is activated.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the initiationevent includes the presence of one or more of an object and a user'shand located within the compartment.
 6. The system of claim 2, whereinthe user's selection is determined responsive to the sensor detectingthe initiation event.
 7. The system of claim 2 further comprising: oneor more micro-sonars configured to detect the user's movement inproximity to the display touch-lessly and communicatively coupled to thedisplay to visually distinguish a graphic element associated withcontent based on the user's movements, the visually distinguishedgraphic element determined to be selected responsive to detecting theinitiation event.
 8. The system of claim 2 further comprising: thedisplay configured to cycle through the potential content forpresentation to the user while the ultraviolet source is activated andvisually distinguish a different graphic element associated withpotential content for presentation to the user while the ultravioletsource is activated at an interval, the visually distinguished graphicelement determined to be selected responsive to detecting the initiationevent.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein the ultraviolet source isconfigured to activate responsive to the user passing a screening andresponsive to the facial recognition and determination based on one ofthe exposure data associated with the user and the absence thereof thatthe user has not exceed the safe use standard for ultraviolet light andremain inactive otherwise.
 10. The system of claim 9, wherein thescreening is based on one or more of a user's height and whether theuser's facial features are determined to be similar to those of a child.11. A method comprising: detecting, using a sensor, an initiation event;capturing, using a camera, an image of a user's face responsive to theinitiation event; and activating, responsive to facial recognition and adetermination based on one of exposure data associated with the user andthe absence thereof that the user has not exceed a safe use standard forultraviolet light, an ultraviolet source; the ultraviolet source and anactivation duration sufficient to sanitize a surface located within acompartment.
 12. The method of claim 11 further comprising: visuallypresenting, by a display, a plurality of graphic elements associatedwith a plurality of potential content for presentation to the user; andpresenting user selected content to the user when the ultraviolet sourceis activated and responsive to determining a user's selection, whereinthe user's selection is made touch-lessly.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the content presented to the user has a duration similar to theactivation duration.
 14. The method of claim 12, comprising presentingsupplemental information to the user after a conclusion of the contentpresented to the user when the ultraviolet source is activated.
 15. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the initiation event includes the presenceof one or more of an object and a user's hand located within thecompartment.
 16. The method of claim 12, wherein the user's selection isdetermined responsive to the sensor detecting the initiation event. 17.The method of claim 12 further comprising: detecting, by one or moremicro-sonars, the user's movement in proximity to the displaytouch-lessly and visually distinguishing a graphic element associatedwith content based on the user's movements, the visually distinguishedgraphic element determined to be selected responsive to detecting theinitiation event.
 18. The method of claim 12 further comprising: cyclingthrough the potential content for presentation to the user while theultraviolet source is activated and visually distinguishing a differentgraphic element associated with potential content for presentation tothe user while the ultraviolet source is activated at an interval, thevisually distinguished graphic element determined to be selectedresponsive to detecting the initiation event.
 19. The method of claim11, wherein the ultraviolet source is activated responsive to the userpassing a screening and responsive to the facial recognition anddetermination based on one of the exposure data associated with the userand the absence thereof that the user has not exceed the safe usestandard for ultraviolet light and the ultraviolet source remainsinactive otherwise.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the screening isbased on one or more of a user's height and whether the user's facialfeatures are determined to be similar to those of a child.